Happy feast day! A new year is upon us, which has most of us looking forward to what the year will hold. We have yet to sit down and make any official plans, but here’s what I’m expecting out of the year to come…

First of all, we know we’re expecting another baby at the beginning of August. This will shape much of what we do. One of the younger kids was born in August, so I know that I should (in theory) be able to handle working in the garden right up until it’s time for delivery, and between the kids and some family and friends, I should be able to get help with the harvest and preservation. Morning sickness should have passed before I begin any of the outdoor work for the year, which will make things easier. We bought a walk-behind seed planter a few years ago that makes planting far less laborious (and is easier on my back), and we have a double-wheel push hoe that also makes weeding easier.

I am under no delusions, and know that harvesting and preserving with a new baby is intense and exhausting. With the last August baby, I didn’t feel like I could really rest until after we finished butchering the pigs in November, and when we finished, I crashed hard. So… I’ll need to keep that in mind as I plan. In the unlikely event we find out I’m carrying twins (I’ve got an initial ultrasound this month, so we’d find out before too long), we will have to think long and hard before committing to any plans.

Last year, my primary goal for the homestead was to really get back into growing a substantial amount of our food. Overall, that went really well, and I’d like to commit to doing roughly the same this year, but again, that’ll be dependent on this pregnancy. My husband had set 4 goals: to clean up the barn, start a business, build a walk-in cooler, and fix the foundation of the house. The barn was mostly cleaned up, the foundation was fixed, the legal foundation and some of the physical work for the business were done, and we started work on the cooler. Any progress is good, but my husband was disappointed that he was unable to participate more in the work that was done on those goals. Rather than set any big new goals, we’ll likely focus on finishing the goals we set last year.

There are two additional things I’d like to work on during the year. My first hope is to get a few edits of the book done and to pitch it to a publisher when it’s ready. Second, I want to create a calendar for the homestead of all of the tasks that we do and when we prepare for them, as well as all the pertinent liturgical things, and when to prepare for them. I’d like to have some variation of the calendar in the book, so I’m sure that will happen either way, and in all likelihood, soon, as we need to have a plan for the year.

Way down on the list of possible activity for the year would be hiring somebody to remodel the bathroom and possibly install a second, hiring somebody to build a new outbuilding/workshop, and building a summer kitchen. I am not expecting any of these last things to happen, as it would require that either my husband or I have the time to come up with some plans and find somebody to do the work. Maybe one of the things will happen, but we’ll see!

More important than any of these things, I hope that our family draws closer to the Lord and continues to work on putting God at the center of it all!

If I’m able to pull together a planning calendar in the next few weeks, I’ll try to get it posted on here so others can benefit from it, too!

Do you have any plans for the new year?

In Christ,
Danielle